Out of Hiding, Into love
by Cirith of Slytherin
Summary: Someone thought to be long dead may not be. How will this affect a certain member of the Golden Trio? Read and review to find out!


OK, here is the revamped version of this story. I know I've ignored this story for a VERY long time, so I hope you're not too upset with me about that. Honestly, I forgot all about my stories. But I've decided to redo them, so hopefully you'll find them a bit better than before. I can't promise I'll update often, I'm working on my Master's degree, looking for a job, and dealing with a boyfriend in Afghanistan, so don't be surprised if there are long gaps in my updates. I'll try to get the rest of the upgrade to this story up soon, as well as on my other stories, and after that I'll see about actual updates. Thank you all for your patience.

I've kept Sirius, Remus, and Severus alive because I like them too much to let them die. And italic words in //---// are James's thoughts. Enjoy and review.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, do you really think I'd need a job if I did?

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**Prologue:**

"Lily, go! Take Harry and go!" James Potter was about to fight the Dark Lord, Voldemort. After Lily took their year-old son, James faced the evil wizard. He refused to try to beg for his life. He was a Gryffindor.

"Think you're brave do you?" Voldemort sneered. "Well, let's see how brave you are in death." He raised his wand and pointed it at James. _"Avada Kedavra!"_ A bolt of intense green light shot out of his wand. James leaped out of the way, and by a miracle was only knocked unconscious, yet Voldemort did not notice because he was already after Lily and Harry.

Later, just after Hagrid left with baby Harry, James finally regained sense of where he was. He groggily sat up and looked around. He saw Lily's body, and ran over to her. Knowing it was futile, he searched for some faint sign of life from his beautiful wife. When he couldn't find one, he doubled over, sobbing, holding her body to him. Gradually, he became aware of a sense of wrongness. The sounds of a baby, ever-present for the past year, were gone. James ran frantically through the house, but Harry was nowhere to be found. For a moment, he was scared that Voldemort had taken his son, but then he remembered the faint sound of a motorbike as he woke up. Looking briefly outside, he saw evidence that Sirius's motorbike had been there. He also realized that Voldemort had not reason to keep Harry alive, so he must be alive. James knew that Dumbledore must have taken him to someplace safe, seeing as James was apparently dead. James knew Dumbledore would take care of Harry and decided to go into hiding for a while, to come to terms with his grief. So he grabbed his wand, kissed his wife one last time, and Apparated to a cottage in the woods, not to be heard from again for a long while.

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Seventeen years later James was still at the cottage. It was the middle of summer, and James decided it was finally time to come out of hiding He had long since lost track of time, and had not kept in touch with the wizarding world, not even to read the Daily Prophet, so he had no idea of all that had happened during his absence. He decided that it would be best to see Dumbledore first, as he would hopefully be the most understanding about his return. So he put his wand in his pocket, transformed, and started traveling to Hogwarts. It took about a week, but finally James saw the huge castle and hurried towards it. By a stroke of luck, he exited the Forbidden Forest just as someone familiar was walking by. He changed back into human form and approached them.

"Professor McGonagall? Could I have a word?" he asked. He certainly did not expect to have a wand suddenly pointed at him, along with a suspicious glare.

"James Potter? You've been dead for seventeen years." James hastened to explain the situation to the elderly witch.

"I've been hiding out in the woods...professor, it's me, I swear." He racked his brains for a way to prove it to her, as she was showing no signs of believing him. "I'm an unregistered stag Animagus, after you dropped the hint to Sirius and me about the book in the Restricted Section that would let us manage the transformation. You said no one of a student age could manage it, which only made us more determined." That, at least, seemed to get through to her, as she lowered her wand slightly.

"James Potter..." McGonagall seemed overcome with emotion, which baffled James, as he'd never seen her this way. She quickly got herself under control though, and put her wand away completely. "How ever have you managed to survive all this time? We all believed you dead."

And so James told her everything, with Professor McGonagall listening intently. "...So I finally decided to stop wallowing in my grief and rejoin the world. I know it probably seems rather selfish of me...I just let Harry be raised by someone else. But I just couldn't handle it right then. Speaking of Harry, do you know where he's staying? I'd like to see him. Though I should probably stop in and say hello to Professor Dumbledore first." At this, McGonagall looked down, her eyes glistening with what looked like tears. "Professor?" James asked worriedly.

"Professor Dumbledore is dead, Mr. Potter. He died a year ago, when the Death Eaters attacked us," she told him. "I am now Headmistress of Hogwarts. Your son is currently living with his godfather, but he'll be back this fall to make up his seventh year, since he missed it with good cause last year."

"Professor, please, what's been going on? What have I missed?" James was really worried now, with the talk of Death Eater activity so recently and his son missing an entire year of schooling.

"Come, let's go up to my office and I'll tell you. I have a feeling you'll want to be sitting down when you here it all," she suggested. James just nodded and followed her as she led the way u to the castle. Looking around, James noticed for the first time the evidence of a recent battle. The inside of the castle was even worse, though you could see that they'd already done a great deal of work to fix the damage. As they made their way to Professor McGonagall's office, they encountered no one else, and soon enough they were sitting in the office, with James still looking around. The room had changed a great deal since he had last been there. On the walls, he saw the portrait of Professor Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as much as ever. And right next to his portrait was one that James did not expect at all.

"Snape?!" The portrait just sneered at him, though there was a faint glimmer of curiosity in his eyes as the man wondered how his schoolboy nemesis was sitting here alive. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and James turned back to face her, noting how weary she seemed.

"Mr. Potter. I'm afraid you have missed a great deal indeed. Though it is perhaps of some comfort that Lord Voldemort has been killed for good, and you have not come back to an ongoing war. A war that was ended by your son and his friends." At this, James's head snapped up, hardly believing that his son had done such a thing, as young as he was. Professor McGonagall merely nodded at his expression and continued. "The war only ended a few months ago. And it is the reason that your son missed his seventh year, he and his two best friends were searching for the means to defeat that monster. Which they managed, and we are allowing them, and indeed the whole school, to repeat their year. Last year, we had two Death Eaters for teachers, and it did not do the students well, so we're allowing them to come back and re-do that year. Last year was hard for us, in many ways." And so she went over all that had occurred under Voldemort's reign the previous year. Once she had finished that, and gotten the worst out of the way, she told James about Harry's other six years at school and what had transpired in them, as well as other things such as Harry's life with the Dursleys and important events in the lives of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. By the time she was done, James could hardly believe how much they'd all suffered. Although his initial reaction had been one of anger for all that his son and his friends had gone through, it quickly turned to guilt that he hadn't been there for them, that he'd been hiding away, completely oblivious, while they fought for their lives. He felt the sting of tears in his eyes as he realized how selfish he'd been, and how much he could have helped. McGonagall watched him in understanding, the war had been very difficult for everyone, even those not involved directly. When James seemed to have collected himself somewhat, Dumbledore's portrait spoke.

"Mr. Potter, nothing can undo the past seventeen years. I am sorry that we let Harry suffer as he did, but that is in the past now. Now he's in his final year of school, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, on which he is a Seeker, and he is free of this horror at last. All has not been lost, and I am certain that he will appreciate having his father back. Even your friends have managed to pull through, they are both now teaching here at Hogwarts. Remus has taken over History of Magic for Professor Binns, who left after the war, and Sirius has taken the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." The look on James's face clearly showed his thoughts, that perhaps everyone would be better off if he just left again and they never knew he still lived, since they had gone through so much now. Professor McGonagall saw this and quickly reached a decision.

"You cannot just leave again, James. Harry and the others will forgive you, I am certain," she said. "Now as to what you'll do now that you're rejoining society...perhaps you would remain here?" When James looked at her in confusion, she continued. "As Headmistress, it is difficult for me to give the proper amount of attention to all of my duties. Even since giving the title of Head of Gryffindor House to Remus, I cannot continue to juggle my teaching responsibilities with the administrative tasks of this job. As I recall, you were top of your class in Transfiguration." She stopped here momentarily to give him a meaningful look as James caught up to her thinking. "If you are willing, I would be willing to pass on my teaching position to you. Of course, this would mean that you would have to behave in an appropriate manner. No obvious favoritism, no pulling practical jokes with your son and friends. Do you understand this?" James nodded.

"I would be honored to accept the post, Headmistress," he said.

"Splendid. And please, call me Minerva, after all, we are colleagues now," she said, smiling slightly. "Now come along and I will introduce you to the rest of the staff, and then we'll get you to see Harry." And so they left the office and went through the halls to the staff room. Finally, they reached the staff room where the majority of the staff was gathered, all except Remus and Sirius. Minerva cleared her throat, and when it was silent began speaking.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make. I am pleased to inform you that I have found my replacement for the post of Transfiguration professor. Now, before he comes in, please do not be alarmed. He is indeed alive and who he says he is. It is my great pleasure to introduce Professor James Potter." Jaws dropped and eyes widened as James stepped into the room. "Everyone, I'm sure you recognize James. James, let me show you the staff, though I'm sure you'll remember some of them from your time here. Starting here by the door, is our librarian Madame Irma Pince and then our nurse Madame Poppy Pomfrey. Beside her is the Herbology Professor and Head of Hufflepuff House Pomona Sprout. Then there is our Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw Filius Flitwick." And on it went, through the Divination Professor, Sybill Trelawney; the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Rubeus Hagrid; the Professor for Astronomy, Aurora Sinistra; the Arithmancy Professor, Septima Vector; the Ancient Runes Professor, Bathsheda Babbling; the Muggle Studies Professor, Amy Pilifia; the Flying Instructor, Madame Rolanda Hooch; and the caretaker, Argus Filch; until there was just one figure left in the room. "And finally, we have our Potions Professor and Slytherin Head of House, Severus Snape. I will ask that you two do not fight as you did when you attended this school together. It would set a bad example for the students."

"Very well, Minerva," came the silky voice of the Potions Professor. "However, I would like to point out that an example from us will not change anything, least of all young Mr. Potter and his friends with their rule breaking."

"Be that as it may Severus, I do not wish to encourage any new trouble makers in this school. Now, I believe that covers everything for the moment. James, you asked me previously where Harry is staying. He and some of his friends are currently staying in Gryffindor Tower, you'll very likely find Remus and Sirius there as well. There is no password for it right now as it is still the holiday. I would like to see you later to go over more details on your new position, but in the meantime, I'm sure you're anxious to see your son."

"Thank you, Headmistress." And with that, James exited the staff room and headed to Gryffindor Tower. As he walked up the stairs, he couldn't help but feel a certain sense of homecoming, a sense of peace and comfort that had been missing in all of his years of hiding. _//I've finally come home.//_


End file.
